Operant Conditioning free essay sample

Operant conditioning can be used in the work place to help modify behavior of employees through a negative or a positive experience following their actions (___). There are a number of ways to take care of undesirable behaviors as well as enforce good behavior in the workplace. Management can use reinforcement, punishment, and extinction to try to mold their employees into performing better and being better workers all around (_____). Studies have shown that people work better and learn better when reinforcement, punishment, or extinction is used in the workplace. Managers can apply these techniques to their employees actions, rather they be positive or negative actions, which will influence the employ to react in a way that the management is wanting. It is the management’s responsibility to realize which method to use depending on the different situations that can occur on a daily basis. Its important that management is trained to deal with the different situations so that they can be sure to use reinforcement, punishment, and extinction appropriately. We will write a custom essay sample on Operant Conditioning or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page One way for managers to influence their employees would be by using a method called reinforcement after certain actions they do. Reinforcement is a way in which managers either use negative or positive consequences on an employee following a certain action the employee or employees were involved in (_______). By the managers taking away something or supplying the employee with something as a result of their actions they can begin to mold them into a better worker. For instance, management could use just a simple type of reinforcement on an employee by simply complementing the employee and telling them that they are doing a great job if they are always arriving to work on a timely basis. Sometimes when workers are just acknowledged for their work they are more likely to continue working hard. Managers could also reinforce an employee’s good behavior by offering them promotion for their dedication. Receiving a promotion could motivate them to continue performing to their best ability in order to keep advancing in the workplace and to possibly receive more promotions in the future. Management could also discipline an employee if they are constantly showing up to work late by warning them if they are late again that they will have to fire them. By using reinforcement the employee might be scared to lose their job and would no longer show up to work late. If the employee still shows up late then management would fire the worker, showing others that being late does have consequences. After losing a job the worker would be more inclined to perform better at their next job and to make sure and always be on time so that they do not risk losing their job again. Management could also offer positive reinforcement by offering the employees who always show up to work on time a pay raise. This pay raise would also be a great motivation for other employees to show up on time so that they could be rewarded for their work and dedication and possibly receive a raise as well. By management noticing the good work as well as the bad work it makes for a better environment that motivates employees to work to their best abilities. Another way management could use operant conditioning would be through punishment to their employees. Punishment is a way of discouraging undesirable behavior of an employee by following an undesirable behavior with a negative consequence or following a positive behavior with a positive consequence (_______). Management could use negative punishment on their employees by taking away a bonus that was offered for them to receive if they completed a specific goal. At times punishment can possibly cause a negative effect back onto the manager by the employee. The employee might want revenge for not receiving the raise that they believe they deserved even if they were not performing at their top ability. Sometimes when managers enforce punishment onto their workers, the workers will commit workplace deviance in a way to get back at management for punishing them. However, along with a negative effect, positive effects also occur due to management using punishment. Employees may also use the punishment as a learning experience to make sure that they complete their work tasks to their full capability and they try to work harder in order to not be punished again by their managers. Another way in which management can try to change an employee’s behavior is through a process called extinction. Extinction is used to weaken the workers behavior by not applying any consequences to their behavior (______). Using extinction may not always have as quick of results on the employees that management might want however, over time it usually is very effective. Without receiving a consequence over time the behavior will eventually weaken. Extinction is not used in all circumstances but in certain ones it is the best way of dealing with the workers behavior. Some individuals do certain things just to get a reaction out of someone else. They depending on the reaction they receive from others. Using the extinction method can revolve these actions from people. For instance, when you are dealing with someone who makes rude comments quite often you can ignore the rude comments and act as if you do not even acknowledge what they said. You can even make the extinction more noticeable by making sure complement the coworker when they make nice or constructive comments. Over time they will learn to not even say the rude comments by getting no response from others, and will stick to only making helpful comments. As long as the situation does not seem too dangerous extinction would be a good way of dealing with it. However, if extinction is still not working after some time or if the situation elevated to something dangerous management needs to be trained to know to start taking a different action to resolve the problem. Operant Conditioning is a great way of being able to modify employee’s behavior in the workplace. Operant conditioning can be used in the work place to help modify behavior of employees through a negative or a positive experience following their actions (___). By using reinforcement, punishment, or extinction management has to ability to mold their employees into better and harder workers if done correctly. Simply complementing an employee for doing a good job at work can use reinforcement. By the manager simply acknowledging the employees work they are more inclined to continue to work hard because they know that the manager is watching. Punishment could also be used by taking away a reward or supplying an employee with extra work for example. By taking away a proposed raise for instance the worker would then be motivated to work harder in the future in order to try to earn back the raise. By supplying the worker will a promotion they would be motivated to continue working hard for another promotion in the future. Extinction can take more time to see result then punishment or reinforcement. Extinction is a way to weaken the employees behavior by showing no consequences to their actions. Over time the employees would drop the actions due to getting no feedback from them. Using these three ways to modify behavior in the workplace can make work a more enjoyable environment as well as a more productive place.